On Sunday I attended another wine event with Sandra. Tasting 2009 was sponsored by the Family Wineries of California Association. It was a little different from the laid back event I attended the previous week: Upwards of three hundred wineries from across California showed up to pour their wine. Needless to say, I got to try lots and lots of good wines. I wasn't the only one though. The event drew an enormous, gregarious and eventually all-too-tipsy crowd of wine aficionados from all walks of life. To accommodate the crowd Sandra wisely thought it would be best if we had three people to work our booth. So we brought a friend of the winery and Kenwood local, Matt Quinones, who besides being incredibly helpful and knowledgeable, took the time to show me the ropes. He knew many of the wineries present and was nice enough to make me a little guide book of which wineries to check out, who to meet and which wines to try. That was great because I have to admit, I was a little lost in the sea of wine and the din of voices. Having three people was perfect because it allowed us to take turns walking around the event, mingling and expanding our palettes. The only catering was a cheese company who really stepped up to plate and delivered 650 pounds of out-of-this-world bleu cheese (and a really nice rosemary and olive oil asiago). It was fun until the very end when the only people left were leaning precariously and all too eager to engage in muddled conversation. All in all, I had a terrific time and it was a great learning experience and I made my first real friend in my new town and I found twenty dollars in my pocket!

As I lay in bed that night, exhausted, I realized that I was really looking forward to the next day of work. And that's something really special. I've had jobs that I've enjoyed in the past but I've never been excited to go to work. Especially when work involves getting up at 6:30 and doing hard physical labor. But I couldn't wait. I love what I'm doing and I couldn't rightfully ask for anything more then that.